The Book of Life

Sol in Cancer

The signe of the Crabbe pertains to houses, lands, treasures, and whatever is hidden. It is the fourth house of the Zodiak. It signifies death and the end of thinges.

Anonymous English Commonplace Book, c. 1590,
Gonçalves MS 4890, f. 8r

Ghosts didn t have much substance. All they were composed of was memories and heart. Atop one of Sept-Tours round towers, Emily Mather pressed a diaphanous hand against the spot in the center of her chest that even now was heavy with dread.

Does it ever get easier? Her voice, like the rest of her, was almost imperceptible. The watching? The waiting? The knowing?

Not that I ve noticed, Philippe de Clermont replied shortly. He was perched nearby, studying his own transparent fingers. Of all the things Philippe disliked about being dead the inability to touch his wife, Ysabeau; his lack of smell or taste; the fact that he had no muscles for a good sparring match invisibility topped the list. It was a constant reminder of how inconsequential he had become.

Emily s face fell, and Philippe silently cursed himself. Since she d died, the witch had been his constant companion, cutting his loneliness in two. What was he thinking, barking at her as if she were a servant?

Perhaps it will be easier when they don t need us anymore, Philippe said in a gentler tone. He might be the more experienced ghost, but it was Emily who understood the metaphysics of their situation. What the witch had told him went against everything Philippe believed about the afterworld. He thought the living saw the dead because they needed something from them: assistance, forgiveness, retribution. Emily insisted these were nothing more than human myths, and it was only when the living moved on and let go that the dead could appear to them.

This information made Ysabeau s failure to notice him somewhat easier to bear, but not much.

I can t wait to see Em s reaction. She s going

Deborah Harkness

Praise for The Book of Life

Weaving an extraordinarily rich story of magic and science, history and fiction, passion and power, secrets and truths, Harkness delivers an unforgettable and spellbinding finale that's not to be missed. USA Today

Juicy and action-packed . . . Even at 561 pages, this is one hardcover no one will mind lugging to the beach.
People

Pure escapist summer fun.
Jodi Picoult, Parade

The epic and erudite vampire-witch romance comes to a thoroughly satisfying conclusion in the action-packed All Souls trilogy ender.
Entertainment Weekly

A stirring, poignant saga.
Us Weekly

The charm in Deborah Harkness s wildly successful All Souls trilogy lies not merely in the spells that its creature characters cast as they lurk pretty much in plain sight of humans, but in the adroit way Harkness has insinuated her world of demons, witches, and vampires into ours. . . . From the novel s poignant opening, Harkness casts her own indelible spell of enchantment, heartbreak, and resilience. . . . She is terrific at bringing her magic world to life, maintaining a fast-paced, page-turning narrative.
The Boston Globe

This trilogy is a superlative example in a subgenre you could call realistic fantasy think Harry Potter but for grown-ups or Susanna Clarke s Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. Witches, vampires, and daemons exist, along with time travel. But this world also is recognizably ours, not a wholly made-up setting like George R.R. Martin s Westeros. When done well, as it is here, this sort of fiction provides characters who are recognizably human in their desires and actions even if most of them are creatures with supernatural powers. Through them Harkness succeeds at the hardest part of writing fantasy: She makes this world so real that you believe it exists or at the very least that you wish that it did.
Miami Herald

Harkness has immersed and